J. M. Lozano

A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, Lozano became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1986, when he was six years of age. His father, J. M. Lozano, Sr., entered the country with a Mexican medical degree. Lozano was reared in Premont in Jim Wells County, where he graduated from Premont High School. In 2003, he received a bachelor's degree in government from the University of Texas, where he was affiliated with Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and interned in the Austin office of State Senator Carlos Truan of Corpus Christi, a Democrat. After his UT studies, Lozano worked in McAllen in the office of Democratic U.S. Representative Ruben Hinojosa. He left that post to pursue his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. He is a restaurant owner. Lozano resides in Kingsville with his wife, Avelina "Abby" Rodriguez, and their three children.[1][2]

Lozano first won election as a Democrat in 2010, having unseated in the primary the incumbent, Tara Rios Ybarra. He then polled 12,351 votes (77.9 percent) that year against his Libertarian opponent, Richard W. Shuey. He switched to the Republican Party in 2012, when he narrowly won the general election that year over Democrat Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, 24,074 (51.6 percent) to 22,629 (48.5 percent).[3]

He is a member of the Eagle Ford Shale Caucus, Tourism Caucus, Rural Caucus, and House Republican Policy Committee, and at various times he has been appointed to the positions of Deputy Floor Leader, chairman of the Committee on Redistricting, and vice-chairman of the Committee on International Trade.

Lozano has continued to consolidate his hold on House District 43. In the general election held on November 6, 2018, he defeated Democrat De Ann Torres Miller, 26,453 (61.1 percent) to 16,809 votes (38.9 percent).[4]